The best ice-cream in London: 2023 edition
With the city hotting up once more, here's where to find the best ice cream in London
London's best ice cream parlours
Sharp sorbets, smooth gelato and guilt-free froyos in all the flavours under the sun – cooling down has never been so delicious. Whether you prefer a classic cone, an Insta-ready marvel or a tastebud-testing new flavour, read on for Culture Whisper's round-up of the best ice cream shops in London.
Gelateria Romeo & Giulietta
Location: 137 Albion Road, London N16 9JU
This picture-perfect, neighbourhood ice cream parlour is Stoke Newington's worst-kept secret. Regardless of the time of day you visit (and the shop is open Tuesday - Sunday, 2pm - 9pm), you'll have to join the queue snaking out the door and around the corner if you want to sample its scoops. But believe the hype: husband and wife duo Ciprian and Iuliana might be Romanian nationals, but a stint in Verona and special recipes from Rome have them producing some of the finest gelato in London. Flavours favour classic Italian tastes: try the ricotta and caramelised figs; hazelnut; or black cherry praline for something different.
Ice Cream Union
Locations: 166 Pavilion Road, Chelsea, London SW1X 0AW / Unit 1 Discovery Business Park, St James's Road, Bermondsey, London SE16 4RA
Ice Cream Union has been delighting Londoners for years with a vast array of flavours, often produced with homemade or hand-selected ingredients. You might have bought a cone from one of its ice-cream bikes in the past, or a tub served directly from the warehouse close to Maltby Street. Last year marked the opening of Ice Cream Union’s first proper parlour on Pavilion Street in Chelsea.
Among its rotating flavours – of which there are over 50 in total – are several which use house-made nut pastes, while others boast hand-selected Sicilian blood oranges and homemade honeycomb among the listed ingredients. If you like yours alcoholic, try one of the limited-edition sorbet flavours, such as Aperol spritz, champagne or Pimms (yes, really).
Gelupo
Location: 7 Archer Street, Soho, London W1D 7AU
If it's a seriously luxurious scoop you're after, Snowflake is the way to go. In 2018 the Selfridges branch released the Billionaire Soft Serve (yours for a crippling £99), which weighed nearly 400g and came complete with a Flake wrapped in gold leaf. Thankfully, other items on the menu aren't quite as extravagant. Our personal favourites are the white chocolate and rose water, and the Hot Fudge Snowdrift (caramel, chocolate and vanilla with fudge and honeycomb, smothered in chocolate and topped with hot fudge sauce).
Ruby Violet
Locations: 118 Fortess Road, Tufnell Park, London NW5 2HL / Midland Goods Shed, 3 Wharf Road, King's Cross, London N1C 4BZ
This ice-cream parlour with locations in Tufnell Park and King's Cross serves handmade sorbets and gelati in high-brow flavours like pistachio, rosewater and masala chai. It’s very yummy mummy, but heavenly all the same. There's a £15 minimum for online orders, which must be placed by 5pm the day before the requested delivery date. Deliveries are made on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday afternoons.
Milk Train
Location: 12 Tavistock St, Covent Garden, London WC2E 7PH
The most Instagrammable ice cream in London, and probably the world, comes by way of Milk Train, where the scoops come floating on a bed of candy floss (don't worry, there's a cone for support, too). As well as the usual flavours, you can tuck into matcha and tangy yuzu, while the sweet shop toppings are worth the trip alone. Be warned, this Covent Garden gem has a queue winding out its door virtually all year round.
Nardulli
Location: 29 The Pavement, Clapham, London SW4 0JE
This cutesy neighbourhood ice-cream parlour perched on the edge of Clapham Common often has a crowd outside its doors. Keeping things traditional with genuine Italian ice cream, Nardulli has a friendly, family atmosphere and a wide variety of flavours sold in cones, cups or – for those looking for something a little more hearty – on crêpes or accompanying cakes.
Chin Chin Labs
Locations: Camden, Soho and via a roaming pick truck
Back in 2010, Chin Chin Labs were the original nitro freezers; nine years on, their tag line 'the future of ice cream' might have lost its freshness, but their ice-cream certainly hasn’t. With a catalogue of avant-garde flavours (strawberry and hay springs to mind) on continual rotation, a visit to one of their parlours guarantees a surprise. Expect a theatrical experience complete with nitrogen tanks, goggles and lab coats.
Oddono's
Locations: Hampstead, Stoke Newington, South Kensington, Battersea, East Dulwich, Wimbledon and Chiswick
'Life’s too short to eat bad ice cream' say the folk at Oddono’s Italian ice-cream parlour. We couldn’t agree more and thankfully, the gelati served here are among the absolute best. Whether you try the South Kensington flagship, or drop by one of the other four branches, no flavour will disappoint, but we have a special soft spot for the pistachio.
Greedy Goat
Location: Borough Market and online
Founded in Florence in 1932, the Badiani brand now boasts four glossy ice-cream parlours in London and a further outlet at Italian food market Mercato Metropolitano in Elephant and Castle. These high-quality gelatos are silky-smooth and laced with further enticing ingredients. There are over 100 flavours to choose from, plus fruity gelato glasses and chocolate-coated gelato cookies.
Nosteagia
Location: Old Spitalfields Market, 16 horner street oldo, London E1 6EW
Childhood dreams you never even knew you had come to life with a trip to Nosteagia at Boxpark Shoreditch. Here, the specialities are bubble waffle cone ice creams and bubble teas. With your ice cream tucked snugly inside this edible bubble wrap, you'll never have to worry about losing a scoop again. There's a range of fun flavours too, including Marshmallow Chocolate and Bananarama.
Udderlicious
Locations: 187 Upper Street Islington, London N1 1RQ / 24 Earlham Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9LN
The Udderlicious ice cream is, we’re pretty sure, secretly made by wizards. Up front though, it comes from a smiley wife-and-husband duo and is an Islington institution with a tempting, pastel-coloured selection of gelatos. Bored of vanilla? Udderlicious’s flavour combinations are a foodie's delight. The strawberry and basil sorbet is like a mouthful of summer and, for all its cool creaminess, the apple crumble summons warm and cosy thoughts of home cooking. And, if you don't like what you see on the menu, play a hand in picking next month's flavours by voting for potential batches online.
Gelateria 3Bis
Locations: Borough Market and Notting Hill
For an experience as authentic as it gets, try Gelateria 3Bis, a permanent fixture at Borough market. Ingredients such as mascarpone, pistachios, figs, liquorice are flown in directly from Italy and shared by the only other two 3Bis gelaterias in coastal Rimini. That batches are made on-site every morning is just one sign of the parlour’s trademark dedication to craftsmanship. And look: no wrappers! Yep, Gelateria 3Bis even has sustainability sorted.
THE BOOK: La Grotta Ices
Kitty Travers’s ice cream recipes are nothing if not wholesome. Try your hand at flavours incorporating peaches, crème fraîche and tarragon, or her refreshing apricot and chamomile sorbet.
Buy the La Grotta Ices book online
PRE-PACKAGED GEMS: Ice Kitchen
Location: Available online and in select stores including (Ocado, EAT, Harvey Nichols and Harrods)
When the sun shines and the temperature rises, we find ourselves hard pressed to name anything more desirable than frozen alcoholic juice on a stick. Ice Kitchen's frozen lollies are stocked at Ocado, Harvey Nichols and Harrods, or if you want to try making your own at home, take inspiration from Ice Kitchen's book: Poptails: 50 Sensationally Intoxicating Cocktail Lollies, which is available to order now.
Gelateria Romeo & Giulietta
Location: 137 Albion Road, London N16 9JU
This picture-perfect, neighbourhood ice cream parlour is Stoke Newington's worst-kept secret. Regardless of the time of day you visit (and the shop is open Tuesday - Sunday, 2pm - 9pm), you'll have to join the queue snaking out the door and around the corner if you want to sample its scoops. But believe the hype: husband and wife duo Ciprian and Iuliana might be Romanian nationals, but a stint in Verona and special recipes from Rome have them producing some of the finest gelato in London. Flavours favour classic Italian tastes: try the ricotta and caramelised figs; hazelnut; or black cherry praline for something different.
Ice Cream Union
Locations: 166 Pavilion Road, Chelsea, London SW1X 0AW / Unit 1 Discovery Business Park, St James's Road, Bermondsey, London SE16 4RA
Ice Cream Union has been delighting Londoners for years with a vast array of flavours, often produced with homemade or hand-selected ingredients. You might have bought a cone from one of its ice-cream bikes in the past, or a tub served directly from the warehouse close to Maltby Street. Last year marked the opening of Ice Cream Union’s first proper parlour on Pavilion Street in Chelsea.
Among its rotating flavours – of which there are over 50 in total – are several which use house-made nut pastes, while others boast hand-selected Sicilian blood oranges and homemade honeycomb among the listed ingredients. If you like yours alcoholic, try one of the limited-edition sorbet flavours, such as Aperol spritz, champagne or Pimms (yes, really).
Gelupo
Location: 7 Archer Street, Soho, London W1D 7AU
If it's a seriously luxurious scoop you're after, Snowflake is the way to go. In 2018 the Selfridges branch released the Billionaire Soft Serve (yours for a crippling £99), which weighed nearly 400g and came complete with a Flake wrapped in gold leaf. Thankfully, other items on the menu aren't quite as extravagant. Our personal favourites are the white chocolate and rose water, and the Hot Fudge Snowdrift (caramel, chocolate and vanilla with fudge and honeycomb, smothered in chocolate and topped with hot fudge sauce).
Ruby Violet
Locations: 118 Fortess Road, Tufnell Park, London NW5 2HL / Midland Goods Shed, 3 Wharf Road, King's Cross, London N1C 4BZ
This ice-cream parlour with locations in Tufnell Park and King's Cross serves handmade sorbets and gelati in high-brow flavours like pistachio, rosewater and masala chai. It’s very yummy mummy, but heavenly all the same. There's a £15 minimum for online orders, which must be placed by 5pm the day before the requested delivery date. Deliveries are made on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday afternoons.
Milk Train
Location: 12 Tavistock St, Covent Garden, London WC2E 7PH
The most Instagrammable ice cream in London, and probably the world, comes by way of Milk Train, where the scoops come floating on a bed of candy floss (don't worry, there's a cone for support, too). As well as the usual flavours, you can tuck into matcha and tangy yuzu, while the sweet shop toppings are worth the trip alone. Be warned, this Covent Garden gem has a queue winding out its door virtually all year round.
Nardulli
Location: 29 The Pavement, Clapham, London SW4 0JE
This cutesy neighbourhood ice-cream parlour perched on the edge of Clapham Common often has a crowd outside its doors. Keeping things traditional with genuine Italian ice cream, Nardulli has a friendly, family atmosphere and a wide variety of flavours sold in cones, cups or – for those looking for something a little more hearty – on crêpes or accompanying cakes.
Chin Chin Labs
Locations: Camden, Soho and via a roaming pick truck
Back in 2010, Chin Chin Labs were the original nitro freezers; nine years on, their tag line 'the future of ice cream' might have lost its freshness, but their ice-cream certainly hasn’t. With a catalogue of avant-garde flavours (strawberry and hay springs to mind) on continual rotation, a visit to one of their parlours guarantees a surprise. Expect a theatrical experience complete with nitrogen tanks, goggles and lab coats.
Oddono's
Locations: Hampstead, Stoke Newington, South Kensington, Battersea, East Dulwich, Wimbledon and Chiswick
'Life’s too short to eat bad ice cream' say the folk at Oddono’s Italian ice-cream parlour. We couldn’t agree more and thankfully, the gelati served here are among the absolute best. Whether you try the South Kensington flagship, or drop by one of the other four branches, no flavour will disappoint, but we have a special soft spot for the pistachio.
Greedy Goat
Location: Borough Market and online
Founded in Florence in 1932, the Badiani brand now boasts four glossy ice-cream parlours in London and a further outlet at Italian food market Mercato Metropolitano in Elephant and Castle. These high-quality gelatos are silky-smooth and laced with further enticing ingredients. There are over 100 flavours to choose from, plus fruity gelato glasses and chocolate-coated gelato cookies.
Nosteagia
Location: Old Spitalfields Market, 16 horner street oldo, London E1 6EW
Childhood dreams you never even knew you had come to life with a trip to Nosteagia at Boxpark Shoreditch. Here, the specialities are bubble waffle cone ice creams and bubble teas. With your ice cream tucked snugly inside this edible bubble wrap, you'll never have to worry about losing a scoop again. There's a range of fun flavours too, including Marshmallow Chocolate and Bananarama.
Udderlicious
Locations: 187 Upper Street Islington, London N1 1RQ / 24 Earlham Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9LN
The Udderlicious ice cream is, we’re pretty sure, secretly made by wizards. Up front though, it comes from a smiley wife-and-husband duo and is an Islington institution with a tempting, pastel-coloured selection of gelatos. Bored of vanilla? Udderlicious’s flavour combinations are a foodie's delight. The strawberry and basil sorbet is like a mouthful of summer and, for all its cool creaminess, the apple crumble summons warm and cosy thoughts of home cooking. And, if you don't like what you see on the menu, play a hand in picking next month's flavours by voting for potential batches online.
Gelateria 3Bis
Locations: Borough Market and Notting Hill
For an experience as authentic as it gets, try Gelateria 3Bis, a permanent fixture at Borough market. Ingredients such as mascarpone, pistachios, figs, liquorice are flown in directly from Italy and shared by the only other two 3Bis gelaterias in coastal Rimini. That batches are made on-site every morning is just one sign of the parlour’s trademark dedication to craftsmanship. And look: no wrappers! Yep, Gelateria 3Bis even has sustainability sorted.
THE BOOK: La Grotta Ices
Kitty Travers’s ice cream recipes are nothing if not wholesome. Try your hand at flavours incorporating peaches, crème fraîche and tarragon, or her refreshing apricot and chamomile sorbet.
Buy the La Grotta Ices book online
PRE-PACKAGED GEMS: Ice Kitchen
Location: Available online and in select stores including (Ocado, EAT, Harvey Nichols and Harrods)
When the sun shines and the temperature rises, we find ourselves hard pressed to name anything more desirable than frozen alcoholic juice on a stick. Ice Kitchen's frozen lollies are stocked at Ocado, Harvey Nichols and Harrods, or if you want to try making your own at home, take inspiration from Ice Kitchen's book: Poptails: 50 Sensationally Intoxicating Cocktail Lollies, which is available to order now.
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